I've Loved You So Long (French: Il y a longtemps que je t'aime) is a 2008 drama film written and directed by Philippe Claudel in his directorial debut.
It stars Kristin Scott Thomas as a woman who struggles to interact with her family and find her place in society after spending fifteen years in prison.
It grossed over $23.4 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, who particularly praised Scott Thomas' performance and Claudel's screenplay.
When Juliette Fontaine, formerly a doctor, is released from prison, her younger sister Léa invites her to stay with her family – including her husband, his mute father, and their two adopted Vietnamese daughters – in their home in the university town of Nancy in Lorraine.
As a result, Léa knows nothing about the circumstances surrounding the crime and, when pressed for details, Juliette refuses to discuss what happened until the end of the film.
While struggling to find employment, Juliette enjoys platonic companionship with two men, a probation officer who understands how prison can damage the human spirit, and Michel, one of Léa's colleagues, who is sympathetic to her ordeal of having been imprisoned.
Gradually, Juliette begins to fit in with Léa and her family, makes friends, and finds a permanent job as a secretary at a hospital.
At the trial she spoke no word of defense or explanation, feeling that she deserved punishment for bringing her son into the world, condemned to die.
The website's consensus reads: "I've Loved You So Long is a sublimely acted family drama as well as a noteworthy directorial debut from Phillipe Claudel.
A. O. Scott of The New York Times said, "Mr. Claudel's practice of fading slowly to black between scenes, and the spidery tones of Jean-Louis Aubert's score, create an atmosphere of mystery and dread that is both appropriate to the story and a little misleading.
"[9] Derek Elley of Variety called the film "utterly engrossing despite being, on the surface, about very little" and added, "Claudel's script is built out of everyday, unmelodramatic events, succinctly dialogued and not nearly as downbeat as the movie sounds on paper.
[9] Turan wrote, "When you're doing a film like this, you want the best acting you can get, and writer and first-time director Philippe Claudel chose brilliantly when he picked Kristin Scott Thomas to star as the shattered Juliette .
[12]Elley too found Scott Thomas to be "aces in the lead role, with flashes of mordant wit that prevent it from becoming a dreary study in self-pity."
However, he felt that "Zylberstein, a variable actress who's very dependent on her directors, is good here, but lacks Scott Thomas' quiet heft and can't quite handle Lea's occasional emotional outbursts.
And even though the unfathomable horror in Juliette’s past dominates everything else, the small felicities and absurdities of real life manage to peek through the gloom.
"[9] LaSalle praised his work with the actors:It's the beauty of Claudel's design that he is able to suggest the specific nature of Juliette's conflict through pictures, by setting up moments of tension and then generously showing us the face of his lead actress .
He proves himself as adept at controlling a story as he is at directing actors, and his intuitive leap - casting Thomas - was inspired and transformative.
[12]The film was cited as one of the year's ten best by many critics, including Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail, Josh Rosenblatt of The Austin Chronicle, Steve Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Ray Bennett of The Hollywood Reporter, Anthony Lane of The New Yorker, Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post, and David Denby of The New Yorker.